


Starting Line

by Edge of the Horizon (maidendays)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Epilogue, F/M, Freeform, Friendship/Love, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 04:30:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maidendays/pseuds/Edge%20of%20the%20Horizon
Summary: "From this moment onward...."Written for @suki_rios's birthday, as a thank you to @Beka_Lou (AO3:PhKn) for her beautiful Genesis novel "Boundary", and forZarcRay Week 2018.





	Starting Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SukiRios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SukiRios/gifts), [PhKn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhKn/gifts).



From the moment they met he loathed her.

He loathed her ethereal beauty, how her very visage seemed to have been shaped in the image of an ancient goddess.

He loathed her natural strength, the way she carried herself so effortlessly through crowds as if everyone and everything in their city wasn't worthy of notice.

He loathed her untamable spirit, the way she refused to allow their world's increasingly violent styles of dueling to pervert her own.

He loathed her unbending will, the way she exited their hellish dueling microcosm with such finality, the way she could go on with her life without the attention and validation of the audience.

He loathed that, unlike her, his very sense of self-worth and reason for being revolved so obsessively around winning and being praised for victories and brutality.

He loathed that as he gave into the crowd's bloodlust, she would sit in the stands for the sole purpose of showing him how disappointed she was in him, shaking her head with the pity she reserved only for him, judging him as he continued his fall into oblivion.

He loathed that he respected her for all of this, loathed that he wished he could _be_ her, loathed that he _couldn't_.

He loathed her as he loathed himself.

Ray.

~~~~~ 

From the moment they met he knew he envied her.

He envied her happiness, the way she seemed to be fully content with her life, the way she seemed so fulfilled, the way she never seemed to desire anything _more_.

He envied the way she excelled at academics, the way she rose to and remained at the top of their class with seemingly zero effort.

He envied her charisma, the way she drew admirers from all over their school, the way they hung on her every word.

He envied her natural ability to make friends, the way she attracted other students to her side, the way they never seemed to want to leave her.

He envied the individual attention she received from the Professor, the adoring looks their mentor reserved only for her, such looks that their mentor never gave him.

He envied her power, her truely beautiful dueling style, that power that the Professor had banned him from ever challenging.

He hated that he'd never be allowed to duel her, because he'd _never_ know which of the two of them was the strongest.

Serena.

~~~~~ 

From the moment they met he knew he wanted to be around nobody but her.

He loved her pretty grin, the way she'd beam at him whenever he managed to do something well.

He loved her blush, the furious manner in which she'd turn bright red before punching him for embarrassing her.

He loved her temper, the beautiful way she'd mercilessly descend upon him with all the grace of angry valkyrie.

He loved her thirst for adventure and knowledge, the way she'd spend days with him rummaging through City's garbage in hopes of finding useful parts to build their D-Wheel, the way she'd quote smart-sounding things she'd read in rotting books.

He loved her empathy, her ability to connect with all the other orphaned children in their neighborhood, the way she could suppress her own suffering in the interest of making sure others had a reason to smile despite their shared hardships as Commons.

He loved her ability to inspire others, the way her mere presence could boost his spirits and motivate him to become his best self, the way she never stopped encouraging him to dream of a better tomorrow even on those cold nights when they were starving on the streets.

Rin.

~~~~~ 

From the moment they met he knew he loved her.

He loved her eyes, her kind eyes that always lit up when she saw him.

He loved her smile, the way her rosy lips would gently and gracefully turn upwards in greeting.

He loved her voice, the lilt of it that never failed to fill his heart with so much happiness he thought it might burst.

He loved her candid honesty, the way she'd lean in close and whisper secrets into his ear, the way she'd lay her head on his shoulder and tell him she felt safe with him, the way she'd discuss her dreams and vulnerabilities without fear of judgment.

He loved her love of life, the way she'd twirl in her dress barefoot in the park, the way she'd hold out her hands to him to join her, the way she'd dissolve into carefree giggles when they'd both fall dizzy on the grass.

He loved her spirit, her carefree soul that refused to be caged not unlike her beloved Lyrical Luscinias.

He loved her surprising aptitude for leadership, the way she so quickly adapted to the abrupt nightmarish change in their lives, the way she rose to inspire their fellow citizens to fight back against Academia's conquest.

Ruri.

~~~~~ 

From the moment they met he knew his life would be incomplete without her.

He adored her brilliant mind, the way she'd solve puzzles through unconventional methods, the way she'd always challenge him to see many possible solutions to the problems he faced.

He adored her unwavering justice, the way she'd stand up for him when the other kids bullied him, the way she'd give even him a hard time if he ever did anything remotely selfish.

He adored her wit, the way she'd always have a biting response to his silly antics, the way she'd always have a way to cheer him up when he was feeling down.

He adored her compassion, the way she'd extend a helping hand even to people who had wronged her.

He adored her because she understood him better than anyone else in his life.

He knew that from the moment she was taken from him that he'd lay down his life for her.

Yuzu.

~~~~~ 

From the moment she meets him again, she knows she still loves him.

She knows she loves him in all sense of the word, in the many faces that love takes, in the hard to define middle ground that exists between loathing and longing.

She knows she wants the chance to get to know him all over again, him the King of Champions who she'd had to stop at all costs, the strange boy at Academia who terrified her as much as intrigued her, the shy Heartland boy who followed her across dimensions, the stupidly brave boy who gave up everything they'd built in City to seek vengeance on the one who took her away, the unassured boy from Maiami who never stopped looking for her even at the cost of his own sanity.

She's alive again, she's alive because _they_... because _he_ overcame his own insecurities, because he learned to accept his demons, and because he learned to, _finally_ , live for himself _and_ others.

"Yu... erm... where do we go from here?" she asks him, tucking a loose strand behind her ear. It feels strange to call him by only one of his names, those wonderful four names he came to be known by after they ceased to exist in the United World...

She doesn't know how he will answer, there's no precedent to follow, no cheat guide to finding balance among the warring memories and halted dreams of five individual lifetimes, and if she is struggling to make sense of it all then he most certainly is too.

With all their friends and loved ones watching, under the scrutinizing gaze of hundreds of people in the stands, he pulls her to him and holds her close, his breathing erratic, his heart pounding against her own, his fingers trailing down through her hair, his face buried in her shoulder, and he trembles, speaking so softly that only she can hear him, "I'm so glad you came back, Yuzu."

"Me too," she whispers, gently stroking his back in comforting circles, her heart swelling with love.

He pulls away after a time, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"'Where do we go from here?' I don't really know to be completely honest... I just know that I want to stay by your side, and that I want to go wherever you go," he says, smiling like the sun itself, a hint of pink on his cheeks, newly found confidence lighting up his eyes.

She smiles back. "I want that too. All of it."

He nods. "Together.... For all of us...... Ray."

_Ray._

She first knew him as Zarc, and then as Yuri, Yugo, Yuto and Yuya.

But from this moment onward she will know him as a new person.... as the fused soul of _his_ five lifetimes, as the blank slate who was reborn for _her_.

This is their starting line.

This is where their lives begin anew.

This is the path to _their_ future.

From this moment onward....

"Wherever the road takes us, let's go there together then...... Zarc."

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe it's been a year since ARC-V ended.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
